Sunday, December 20, 2015

U.N. Recognizes Yom Kippur As Holiday

According to the Times of Israel, the United Nations announced on Thursday that it was adding the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur to the list of officially recognized U.N. holidays on which no official meetings will be scheduled and staff will not be required to report to work. The U.N. already observes Christmas, Good Friday, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as holidays, along with six secular U.S. holidays. The U.N. move had important symbolic importance. Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon (who along with U.S. Ambassador Samantha Powers) led the move to add Yom Kippur, said: "Today we finally have an official place for the Jewish religion in the World’s parliament."